Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL is Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI's 4th Largest Position

Key Points

• Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 3.3%, making it the company's 4th largest position, valued at approximately $453.9 million.
• Analysts have raised their price targets for Alphabet, with some forecasting a potential price of up to $280.00, indicating strong confidence in the company's growth.
• Alphabet recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21, which will be paid to stockholders on September 15th, representing an annualized yield of 0.4%.

Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI lifted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 3.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,935,559 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 93,981 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 3.7% of Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI's holdings, making the stock its 4th largest position. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI's holdings in Alphabet were worth $453,955,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $20,886,000 after purchasing an additional 4,110 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,930 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,826,000 after buying an additional 506 shares during the last quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE increased its position in Alphabet by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 29,100 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $5,509,000 after buying an additional 1,003 shares in the last quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 137,477 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $26,024,000 after acquiring an additional 4,762 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Forum Financial Management LP raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 79,160 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $14,985,000 after acquiring an additional 4,756 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on GOOGL. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Roth Capital raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Oppenheimer reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $270.00 price target (up from $235.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $184.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $240.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have issued a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $221.44.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $234.04 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.83 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $238.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. The business has a 50-day moving average of $196.95 and a two-hundred day moving average of $175.73.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.16. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The firm had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.60 billion. As a group, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $200,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 6,916 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,383,200. This represents a 12.63% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total value of $4,637,754.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 42,999 shares in the company, valued at $8,371,905.30. This trade represents a 35.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 254,710 shares of company stock worth $49,208,380. Insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Profile

Alphabet Inc offers various products and platforms in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia-Pacific, Canada, and Latin America. It operates through Google Services, Google Cloud, and Other Bets segments. The Google Services segment provides products and services, including ads, Android, Chrome, devices, Gmail, Google Drive, Google Maps, Google Photos, Google Play, Search, and YouTube.

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